Yeah know what you mean!, even though you may have all the gear etc its still a lot of work to get each event organised. I think a giant lan is out of the question unless someone can come up with a lot of spare dosh.

i agree stuff like this requires planning, and lots of it, to host one of these and it to be decent your planning would take you the best part of a year, and the cost would be huge and considering that its tasmania your profit margin wouldnt be that big, so you are always gonna be out of pocket.

we are lucky because our venue has projectors and sound, and everything else thats a huge upside because we dont have to buy it and we have already made the money back on that stuff so from now and out its all profit hence why next DM lan is going to have 2 or more 42" plasma tvs for the console area.

your first lan is always gonna be a bank breaker, no matter how big it is, just remember that dont bother unless your in it for the long run, it will take you atleast 2-3 lans befor you getting it running remotely smooth.

anyway just my 2cents

Yeah well, Luke came up with the idea so i though i would put it out there are see what other people thought about it. An event like this would be great and you never know something could come up and make a LAN of this size possible, its unlikely but anything is possible.


Edit: Spelling

lol clearly it wnt work coz u wnt get the numbers, or the equipment, or the hiring cost covered
i looked into it once before and its just a dead loss, its just plain out too expensive

I'm with gregr, get the planning/framework together anyway so if an opporunity for a larger than normal event arises it could be done with less headache.

also another thing would be to host a lan befor hand with atleast a decent turn out, I.e something over the size of LAN-DING (around 50 minimum) and see how you go, you dont want to get in to deep and realise that you cant actually run a big event.

Big LAN's fail when people have no idea what they are getting into and dont have a clue what they are doing, so just think about it.

Somehow, I don't think size is as big of an issue as you tend to think.

It is a case of build it and they will come.. About the only point that is nigh on impossible to test is load on the equipment you get.

An event like this would provide a proper network setup.. Not just expect people to wander in and find the switch like LAN-Dings for DMs or any other LAN that has been run. For anyone who ever got to attend and event at the PGC, You know how much better an event is when the infrastructure isn't scrapped together using whatever the gaming community can offer up.

our network is fine, you havent even attended one of our events.

my main point was try starting out with something smaller and working your way up, its doesnt do you anygood hosting a 20 person lan then jumping straight up to a 100+, try with a decent sized number as i mentioned above and then work your way up, and numbers has a lot to do with it, everything gets alot more difficult and alot more stressful when the numbers rise.

we do our best at our event and barely any of you show up lol, might be worth coming along to one of ours to see how we run things befor talking about it.

Easy does it, somehow I don't think tAK was refering to DM's setup with that last paragragph, Moonah springs to mind (shudders) - the DM events I've attended have only been marred by "Steam Issues", prety good otherwise.
By the similar note, the people working out the nuts and bolts of this "proposition" aren't going to "make do" with a half-baked idea, and between them have the organisational and technical skills to pull it off

another 2c from me

everyone seems to have stopped talking on this issue?

Hey, I was generalising.

Its a basic fact, That at any LAN which currently runs, You put a switch at a section of tables, And when people come in, They run a network cable to it.
You cannot deny that as the basic fault behind ANY of the events. As soon as cables start being ran in that fashion by attendees, IF there is a problem, You are going to have a harder time finding it.

Hence, In order to run an event for 100+ people as a once off, You are going to need to setup the network "properly"
ie:
Run a lead for each person, So that the Admins have complete control over what is connected to the switch.
Run 2 Power points for everyone, And deny anyone from connected another power board to the layout (scree + tower, Nothing else should generally need to be connected to the power grid)

I was not trying to say your network layout is crap, or in-efficient, Simply trying to state that if you are going to run the event as a one off, or once a year shindig, then its going to have to be done "properly".

For anyone who wants to follow the kind of organisation that goes into things like this, I suggest you follow the run-up to Digital Overload:
http://www.digital-overload.com/

@FireWater - Thats because it is becoming an issue

http://www.reloadedlan.com/ - All of Adelaide's LAN Groups in each yeah combine into 1.

OWL's location would have teh power distribution, no doubt about that, tables would be an issue, seating not so much, space, well they would easily hold 200... they have teh sound multimedia there, so it would be easy

Yeah, I have actually neglected to mention that to these folks here on the forum.

The location where the OWLs are held has a carpeted hall at least the size of a standard school Gymnasium.
With more than enough power (They have 3phase running to the roof to run their spotlights / speakers / projector setup)

Its warm, has the facilities, the space, as loco said, needs the tables.

Thats pretty cool, Once upon a time here on tas, It was Nexus in launceston that did that.

Here is a Question, What does the DM Lan own in the way of network infrastructure, Switches and Servers.
(Amongst Admins only, Not items that attendees bring along to help out)